Perfectly Normal
by secretfanficlover
Summary: Harry goes back to number four privet drive with Draco to see that a lot has changed, and Dudley has grown up to be a good father to his daughters.
1. Perfectly Normal

**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

* * *

Word Count: 1074

Title: Perfectly Normal

Note: Slight AU, Harry and Draco become friends after the war- maybe more. Possible MC- lemme know what you think in the reviews.

Warnings:

Beta: lun27

* * *

Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Festival Of Light: Write about someone seeing light in the darkness.

* * *

Hogwarts

Yearly:

Prompt 649 [Quote] Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. Unknown

* * *

"Don't look back," he remembered his aunt Petunia saying the day he turned seventeen and left them for good. He had never believed he would be back in this street, where the house still stood, as a reminder of the childhood that had been stolen from him.

His eyes roamed over the perfectly _normal_ lawn, in the perfectly _normal _neighborhood. He felt Draco squeeze his hand.

"It will be okay," he said, noticing Harry's reluctance to move.

"I couldn't do this without you," Harry said with a small smile.

"Of course you can't, stupid Gryffindor," Draco said, rolling his eyes. Harry chuckled, there was something refreshing about the sarcasm when he was so used to the fawning.

The door swung open, and Harry knew it was too late to disappear. He saw Dudley, who now had become a more slender version of himself. He shot Harry a smile and walked outside to greet him.

"Harry, cousin! So good to see you!" Dudley exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, remembering how Dudley used to bully him senselessly, he had a fleeting thought of Polyjuice potion being used. Then he remembered that the war was over and he was being paranoid. Perhaps his cousin had simply grown up to be a decent human being.

Dudley laughed. "I deserve that, I wasn't very kind to you growing up. I'm sorry." He nodded in Draco's direction and added. "I see you brought the boyfriend with."

Both men blushed and belatedly realised their hands still clasped.

"Oh no," Harry insisted. "Draco's just a friend."

"Goodness, I really put my foot in it," Dudley said, slapping his forehead.

"It's normal, anyone sees me and loves me," Draco joked suddenly. Dudley let out a half-chuckle.

"Anyway, I'm glad you came," Dudley said, walking towards the house. Harry followed; something made him feel unsteady in this place. He defeated evil, yet number four privet drive still gave him the creeps.

As soon as a small girl came running out with curly blonde hair, looking like a doll, the last of those fears disappeared.

"Uncle Harry!" the girl cried, jumping at him with a hug around his legs.

Dudley laughed at his daughter.

"Harry, this is my oldest daughter, Celia," he said.

"Hello, Celia," Harry said, crouching down to look into the girl's powder-blue eyes.

"Uncle Harry, daddy said you would be coming, he told me so much about you…" the little one chattered on.

"Come on, Celia, let's go inside," Dudley said, the genuine smile on his face making him look like a completely different person to the spoiled child he had been.

"We all grow up some time," Dudley said, following the curly haired blonde girl into the house.

"I know, I mean, Draco," Harry said but faltered.

"You weren't friends during school?" Dudley asked.

Draco laughed sarcastically. "Hardly."

Harry's eyes lit up as he entered the house that used to be his childhood prison. It was brighter and had photographs of not only Dudley and his wife, as well as the two daughters, it also held moving pictures of Harry himself, in his Auror robes.

"I don't imagine my aunt takes this very well, how often does she have tantrums about it?" he asked as he saw the evidence of magic in the house.

"Oh, I'm sure mother would throw a tantrum if she saw it," Dudley replied.

"We hide those when she comes over," he added, pointing at the photographs of Harry, as well as one of Harry's parents.

"Yes, it's our little secret," Celia said, "Daddy wants us to know about magic, in case me or Lisa become witches." Harry looked at the little girl in wonder. She was so small, and yet she was already so much wiser than her father.

"That's very clever," Draco said to Celia, and Harry was surprised how easily his friend took to the child.

"Well," Dudley said and cleared his throat. "Some tea?" He offered the two of them. Harry nodded, following Dudley into a kitchen that looked nothing like the one he knew. He looked around so much that Dudley picked up on his curiosity.

"Alice wanted the whole place redone. A new start, she said, especially after she heard what mother had done to you," Dudley said with a blush.

"I like it much better." Harry sat down at the small yellow kitchen table. Celia popped onto the chair next to him before Draco could, and when the wizard gave her a curious look, she said, "Oh, sorry, would you like me to move, sir?"

Draco shook his head. "I'm Draco," he said to the little girl.

"Pleased to meet you, uncle Draco," she said. Harry was ready to correct her, when he spotted the look of adoration on Draco's face at hearing those words. It was clear that Draco was sometimes jealous he didn't have the contact with his family, and the ones he did, he hadn't been allowed to spend any time with.

While her father made tea, Harry watched Celia reach for a pink plastic glass in the cupboard just beyond her reach, and it seemed to move an inch forward, just enough for her to reach it. She grinned cheekily at Harry and then moved to the fridge to fetch the orange juice.

"Celia, are you being naughty and showing off again?" Dudley asked as he noticed the expression on the men's faces.

She rolled her eyes. "Daddy, it's not showing off, I couldn't reach," she insisted.

"Don't be sassy with me, young lady," Dudley said in the strictest voice Harry had ever heard. It reminded him of Mrs Weasley reprimanding her own brood. It was clear Dudley and his wife weren't going to allow the same behaviour that he had grown up with.

"Sorry Daddy, next time I'll ask for help," she said abashed, taking her juice and sitting down at the table again.

"That was pretty cool," Draco said. "Naughty, but cool, can you do a lot of things like that?"

Celia nodded. "But, it's a secret," she mimed zipping her small mouth and tossing the key. "If granny asks, we are all _perfectly normal_."

Maybe looking back wasn't an option anymore, but looking ahead, he could surely do now, and he was willing to become a part of his nieces lives and watch them grow up to become decent people, it was time to break the cycle, so no more looking back.


	2. Owl Post Again

**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

* * *

Word Count: 886

Title: Owl Post Again

Note: Name inspiration for cat from DolbyDigital

Warnings:

Beta: Aya Diefair

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Quidditch League:

[Team]: Pride Of Portree

[Position] Captain

[Theme]: Procrastination Thread: Mystery box 4:

[Prompts]: [creature] Cat

* * *

Hogwarts

Assignment 6: Home Economics & Domestic Magic: House-Elves: Task #2: Write about someone physically small.

Yearly:

Prompt 28 [Word] Charming

* * *

A little curly-haired blonde girl, probably around ten or so, walked towards the door of her house at Number 4 Privet Drive. The post had been pushed through the slot of the mailbox. Her powder blue eyes shone as they landed on the usual post, bills, adverts, and something else—a letter for her. The letter held a wax seal with shimmering green writing and legible penmanship.

_Celia Dursley, Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, bedroom on the left. _

"Mum, Dad!" she cried with a shrill voice. "It's here! I got in!"

Alice, her mother, rushed into the hallway. Alice was below average height. She had dark blonde hair and blue eyes. Celia was like a smaller clone of her. She was followed into the hallway by Mr Dudley Dursley, a man that one can tell has lost a lot of weight over the years. The neighbourhood might seem perfectly normal on the surface, but this house held a secret. It was the home of Celia Dursley, the first cousin once removed of the legendary Harry Potter, the war hero and wizard who saved the world from He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

It had taken Harry years to form a relationship with his cousin Dudley again. But it had been about three years that he had begun to form a new relationship with Dudley, as well as Celia and her younger sister, Lisa.

"I can't wait to tell Cousin Harry and Cousin Draco," she said in awe. She was holding the envelope as if it was made of gold. Lisa walked in and noticed the envelope her sister was holding.

"You got in," she said softly.

"Lisa, there is still time for you," she said seriously. She was worried about her sister; she didn't want what happened to Granny Petunia to happen between them.

Alice spoke again, stopping the girls brooding thoughts. "Let's go sit in the kitchen, it's breakfast time girls."

Both girls nodded and followed their mum into the kitchen. Sitting down, Celia opened the wax seal carefully. She had a charming grin as she read it to herself.

"Read it out loud then," Alice urged. Although she was trying to not make Lisa feel uncomfortable as it seemed the poor girl wouldn't be chosen like her sister. When Celia was eight, she already showed signs. Yet, Draco and Harry had insisted they couldn't be sure until Lisa turned eleven.

"Dear Miss Dursley, we are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…" she read the letter to the room, trying to contain her excitement.

The doorbell rang again about an hour later, and the small girl rushed to the door before her mother insisted she would answer it.

"Alice, hi," Harry said, and Celia almost squeaked in pure joy. Her cousins were here. Harry and Draco almost always visited together. She heard Draco's voice as well, and knew she had been right.

"Come on in then. I suppose I can't say no." Alice smiled, she seemed to be eyeing something that Harry was holding.

"I spoke to Dudley," she heard Draco saying. "He thought it was the perfect idea."

When the two men walked into the house, she knew why her mother had sounded reluctant. She and Lisa had been begging for a pet for ages, and here cousin Harry was, holding a small fuzzy grey blob, and cousin Draco was holding an owl cage with a tawny owl.

"Oh cousin Harry, it's the cutest kitten!" Celia exclaimed. The men met each other's eyes and she could swear Harry was mouthing, "I told you so."

"Well, we spoke to your dad, and since it was your birthday a few weeks ago, your dad said we could get you and Lisa each a pet, and cousin Draco thought you would want the owl, but your dad told us how much you like cats."

"I love cats." She beamed at them.

"Well there you go," he said with a sideways glance at the blond man next to him, and he encouraged her to come forward and hold out her hands for the small grey kitten.

"He is beautiful," she whispered as the small thing began to purr. "I shall call him Clarence."

"Then where is Lisa?" Harry asked.

"Here, Cousin," the younger sibling said, eyes wide at seeing the owl that was almost her size.

"Then this one is for you," Harry said.

"Cousin Harry, really? Mum said I'm too young for a pet," she said, her wide eyes daring him to say no.

"I spoke to your parents, when Celia goes to Hogwarts you need to be able to send her letters, won't you?" He said, and the girl nodded vigorously.

Lisa was thrilled, although she was a bit reluctant after seeing the owls large talons, but Harry showed her how to stroke his head, and once she was a bit bigger, she could even carry him around.

"Cousin Harry," Celia said suddenly. "How did you know I got my letter?"

"That's my little secret," he said, winking at his niece. "Congratulations, Celia."

The men both gave her a big hug, insisting that they go with her when she buys her school supplies, because with one look at Dudley they knew he would need all the help he could get.


	3. Tangled

**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

* * *

Word Count: 1892

Title: Tangled

Note:

Warnings:

Beta: Aya Diefair

* * *

Quidditch League:

[Team]: Pride Of Portree

[Position] Captain

[Theme]: Procrastination Thread

[Prompts]: [creature] Cat

* * *

Hogwarts

Assignment 8: Herbology: Spring Herbs: Task #1 - Rosemary: Write about someone not wanting to cut their hair.

* * *

Celia was sitting outside with a stick in the lawn of number Four Privet drive, and her young grey kitten Clarence was pawing at it playfully. Lisa, her younger sister, was sitting inside, but looking at them through the window.

Celia loved playing outside. She and Clarence were out on most days, despite the issue it caused with curious neighbours watching the strange timid girl play. She had very long, curly blonde hair and pastel blue eyes. Sometimes her father commented that she looked like she was made of porcelain and that she might break if he handled her.

Her father, Dudley Dursley, ran a drill company that used to belong to her grandfather Vernon Dursley. He had the look of someone who lost a large amount of weight in a small amount of time. Her mother, Alice, had her same features, and she worked as a nurse.

Celia smiled at Clarence, rubbing his tummy when he rolled onto his back in the grass, and she giggled. "Silly Clarence, are you excited for school this summer?" She saw the next door neighbour look at her and lowered her voice slightly. "Cousin Harry said it was the best years of his life, you know, I am worried I will miss Mum and Dad, and Lisa. But at least she has Hermes."

Hermes was her younger sister's pet owl. Upon the day that Celia had gotten her Hogwarts letter, Harry and Draco had bought both sisters a pet. There had been a bet that Celia would want the owl, but Harry insisted he knew his young cousin better. In the end, Lisa was happy as well, even though the giant owl had been larger than her when she just got him. She loved Hermes, and Celia loved Clarence.

Celia kept her Hogwarts letter in a drawer in her bedroom. As much as she and her mum wanted to put it up against the fridge, they had known that Granny Peturnia wouldn't like it at all. Celia didn't like her gran much; her gran was always pinching her cheeks and saying she looked like her mother didn't feed her enough. It did make more sense when she saw photographs of what her grandfather Vernie and her dad used to look like. She liked grandpa Vernie. He often just smiled and didn't say much. She found it hard to believe he had been so mean to her cousin Harry so many years ago.

Celia loved a good many things, Clarence, a good book, secretly doing small spells without her parents knowledge, but most of all, she loved her long, golden blonde curls. Lisa had always been jealous of them as well. It was the next day, and Celia was sitting in front of the pink plastic vanity she had in her room brushing her long hair. Lisa was sitting on Celia's bed, babbling excitedly about having sent Hermes with a picture for cousin Harry. Celia's hair was reaching the small of her back, and she smiled happily. That was, until her mum walked in with the worst news Celia could imagine.

"Honey," Alice said softly. "I see your hair is getting way too long again, we need to get it cut before you start school."

Celia's face went white as chalk. "But, Mum," she tried to argue. Celia wasn't one for temper tantrums, and was usually quite well behaved. "It isn't that long," she attempted instead.

"Celia, it's almost reaching your bottom," Alice said sternly. Lisa giggled at the use of the word bottom, which Celia would also have found funny under normal circumstances if her beautiful hair wasn't under the threat of being cut off. "Don't be so stubborn."

"I don't think I need it though, Mum, honestly," she tried again. She was putting on her most "I am almost a grown up, and I wash it and brush it myself" tone, but her mother's word was final.

"Daddy!" Celia cried on the stairs.

"Listen to your mother, Celia," Dudley barked shortly. He was watching his favourite television program and he knew that this had been a long time overdue.

"What about Lisa?" Celia said instead.

"Your sister's hair was cut less than a month ago, dear," Alice said.

"Oh," she muttered sulkily.

"I remember, cousin Harry was here," Lisa supplied helpfully. The eleven-year-old Celia knew there was no use taking this out on her sibling, but she had no more say against her mother.

"Oh Lisa, mind your own business," she said with a glare, but instantly regretted it when she saw Lisa starting to tear up and clamber off her bed.

"Go—" Alice was saying, but Celia had already dropped her My Little Pony brush and went after her sister. She really didn't like fighting, the two of them might be very different, but she loved Lisa so much.

Lisa's door was quite decorated, whereas Celia liked things clean and organized. There were pictures on both the outside and inside of the room, there was a no-entry sign, which she usually hung over the doorknob when she was angry at her sister, but Celia noticed its absence.

"Lisa," she knocked three times before swinging the door open. Lisa was lying on her bed, face down, crying miserably.

"Go away," she mumbled through her tears.

"Lisa, I'm sorry," Celia said. "You know I hate when mum makes me cut my hair."

Lisa sniffed and turned onto her side. "You know, the hairdresser says it makes it grow better," she said before wiping her nose with her sleeve.

"I know." Celia sighed. "It doesn't work on mine though."

"You have the prettiest hair. When you are a grownup you will never have to cut it again and you can be like Tangled," Lisa suggested, clearly over her sadness.

"You mean Rapunzel?" Celia asked curiously. Lisa nodded vigorously.

"Yes, that's what I said," she insisted. Celia accepted this, although she struggled to not correct her. They had just gotten better again, she wasn't going to tell her sister that the girl wasn't called Tangled.

She crept onto the landing, hearing her parents talking below.

"Don't you think your cousin could help?" Alice asked.

"I think Harry has a bit more pressing matters than helping his cousin get a haircut," Dudley replied. At the sound of Harry's name, Celia pressed her ears to the banister to hear better. She wished he would give her some of those Extendable Ears he spoke off, those would be very effective in her reconnaissance missions.

"Perhaps, but he did offer to help us take her for her school things," Alice added.

"Such a clever woman," Dudley said with a light-hearted chuckle. Celia wasn't sure what the connection was, but on the whole, it didn't matter very much if she got to see Harry and Draco again.

The next day the doorbell rang and Celia knew it was either her grandmother Petunia, or Harry. She was hoping for the latter.

"Harry, cousin, thank you," she heard her father say, and she and Lisa were downstairs in a flash.

"Harry!" Celia cried.

"My darling Celia." Harry grinned, hugging her. She peered around him, searching for the ever present addition of his boyfriend, Draco, but he wasn't there.

"Cousin Harry." Lisa smiled as well, and he leant down to kiss the younger girl's cheek.

"Where is Draco?" Dudley asked before Celia could interject.

"Didn't your mother used to say to not ask questions?" Harry said, but it held a joking manner.

"Of course, sorry," Dudley said abashedly.

"It's fine, he just couldn't make it today. He had work stuff," he told Dudley.

"So, I hear someone doesn't want her hair cut," Harry said, eyeing the older girl curiously.

She shook her head. Surely, he wasn't going to be on her parents side, was he?

"Let me tell you a story," he said, walking towards the lounge.

She often forgot he lived here as well for a long time in the dirty cupboard under the stairs where she kept spare books and clothes that had become too small for her.

She followed him curiously and he sat down on the couch, patting both sides with his hands, and the girls sat down next to him on various sides.

"So, once upon a time," he started.

"Cousin, is this a true story?" Celia interrupted. She wasn't one for fantasy much, but her cousin usually entertained her with fictionalised versions of his own accounts of living with her grandmother, or stories about Hogwarts.

* * *

_Once upon a time, there was a young boy; his hair was black and constantly messy. He was scrawny, and lived in a cupboard under the stairs, in this very house. He wasn't very well treated, and he used to wear his cousin's clothes that were always way too big for him and they made it look like he was wearing a dress instead of a shirt. _

_But, that wasn't too bad, for it covered his scrawny frame, although it somehow made him look even smaller, and even more malnourished. His long black hair covered a lightning bolt scar on his forehead. His aunt, Petunia Dursley, had become tired of him returning from the hairdressers looking like he had never been, and had decided to use the kitchen scissors to cut off long chunks of his hair, leaving only a fringe to cover the horrible scar on his head. _

_That night, the little boy, Harry Potter, tossed and turned, having nightmares about school the next day. He had already been teased because of his broken glasses, his hand me down clothes, and now this. Harry didn't even want to imagine what would happen. _

_He woke up that morning, having gotten no sleep, and pulled on his clothes in the small cupboard before going to the bathroom to splash water on his face. He had almost managed to put it entirely out of his head, but then his aunt screamed._

"_What?" Harry asked, and he had dropped his piece of toast on the floor in shock. _

"_It can't be," Aunt Petunia had insisted, but it was, no matter that Harry had no idea how he did it, his hair had grown back overnight._

* * *

"I liked this story," Lisa said. "Cousin Harry is like Tangled as well."

Harry looked puzzled, but Celia mouthed the word. "Rapunzel" and he nodded; she knew he was thankful for the translation.

"So, I can make it grow back?" Celia asked.

"I don't know how it happened," Harry chuckled. "But I am sure your mum would never do anything like that to you, I bet it won't look so bad."

"Oh," she said, her face sinking.

"Celia, it's just hair, it grows back," Harry assured. "And also, if you do this like a big girl, I will take you to get your school things, how's that?"

She wasn't happy, but she nodded. It sounded fair.

"Deal. Can Lisa come?"

"I wouldn't dream of leaving her home," Harry insisted.

"Okay." Celia sighed. "I'll do it."

She sounded more like a girl saying she would lay down her life than someone agreeing to cut her hair, but that's how it should be, and an eleven year olds view of the world should be that narrow, and Harry would do all he could to keep them being children for as long as they could.


	4. One More Win

**This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.**

* * *

Word Count: 1452

Title: One More Win

Note:

Warnings:

Beta: DarylDixon'sgirl1985, ViolaMoon

* * *

Quidditch League:

[Team]: Pride Of Portree

[Position] Captain

[Theme]: Quidditch Supplies

[Prompts]: [creature] Cat

[Theme]: Book Club

[Prompts]:

[Theme]: Pokemon

[Prompts]: (object) necklace, [#081.] Magnemite: Write about someone trying to avoid a social situation/event/gathering

* * *

International Wizarding School Competition:

[School]: Malfoy

[Prompts]: Write about a family game night

[Theme]: Week 4: Board games

* * *

Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

[House]: Thunderbird

[Assignment]: Divination

[Task]: Task 5 - Astrology: Astrology is the system of using the relative positions of celestial bodies (including the sun, moon, and planets) to try to predict future events or gain insight into personality, relationships, and health. Human and Centaur outlooks on Astrology differ.** Write about a small event leaving a big impact. **

[Bonus]

* * *

Celia, a petite little blonde girl with blue eyes and the complexion of a porcelain doll, was lying on her bed with a book open in front of her. She ignored the knock on the door, knowing full well it was her father, Dudley, coming to check on how her packing was going.

"Hey, princess," he said, grinning at her. "Everything packed for school tomorrow?"

She sighed and closed her book. "Oh, still a couple of things I need to go through," Celia insisted, despite it all being packed ages ago. Her cat Clarence looked up at her as if he wanted to object to her lying to her father, and she relented.

"Okay, okay, I'm finished. I just really don't like family game night."

Dudley laughed, putting Clarence on the floor before sitting down on the bed next to his eleven-year-old.

"I know, Celia, but tonight is going to be different." Dudley's eyes were shining with delight, and it piqued her interest.

"How?" she asked.

"It's a surprise, Daddy wants to show you and Lisa a new game before you leave." Dudley got up from the bed then, knowing he caught his daughter's interest. "Coming?" he added.

Celia nodded, despite her reluctance, and jumped from the bed, following her dad downstairs to the living room.

Number twelve Privet Drive looked like a regular suburban house on the outside. But one is often told to not judge a book by its cover, and this is one of those times when the saying rings true. Inside the house, if one looked a little closer, the pictures would move. The walls held photographs of a messy-haired man surrounded by redheads- none other than Dudley's cousin Harry, and his found family, the Weasleys.

The Dursley's had met a couple of Harry's friends, and Harry had been an important role-model to Celia and Lisa, along with his boyfriend, Draco. The two of them were wizards, and despite the Dursley's always having been proud of being as normal as can be, it wasn't only Harry's mother that had magic. Celia had the best examples of what one can achieve despite any odds, as her own second cousin had defeated the biggest, badest villain that the wizarding world had ever known. She thanked her lucky stars every night that all these bad things had taken place prior to her attending school, as she had a feeling she would quite dislike school being cancelled due to bad wizards attacking children.

Upon first glance, Celia didn't see the game that her father seemed so excited about, and then she noticed a small cardboard box, with nothing on it, it looked like a shoebox, and it just made her even more curious what the contents held. Lisa, her younger sister, was already sitting in her favourite chair.

Alice, Celia's mother, walked in after her, grinning at her curious daughter. "Did he tell you it's a surprise as well?" she asked.

"Yes," Celia said, nodding. "I would rather be reading." She added in a lower voice.

"I know, but it's your last night, Celia," her mother scolded lightly. "This really matters to your father."

"I know, Mum, I'm sorry." Alice ruffled Celia's blonde hair that; despite its recent haircut; was still far from short.

Celia laughed, and the two of them went to join Lisa at the table.

"Daddy! Daddy! Come!" Lisa called, eyeing her mother and sister. "He was making me wait until you got here, Celia."

"We are all here now," Alice said, and Lisa's eyes lit up in delight.

"That's true, now Daddy will show us what's in the box." She beamed.

"You are going to love this," Dudley said, rubbing his hands together with eagerness. "This has been Daddy's secret since he was Celia's age, and now I get to share it with you three." He sat down at his chair at the table, and the children were watching him with wide eyes.

He opened a box with cards, and it was clear he had been waiting for ages to show someone, anyone, his secret obsession. Each card was carefully sleeved in plastic, and the backs had symbols on them that Celia had never seen before.

"This is magic," Dudley said.

"Magic? But, father, I thought you said you couldn't do magic?" Celia asked, sitting up straighter. The look on Alice's face reflected both Celia's puzzled expression and slight worry.

'"Dudley, those better not be tarot cards," she said suddenly.

Dudley laughed. "No, no it's nothing like that, it's just a card game called Magic: The Gathering."

"Do the pictures move?" Lisa asked.

"No, princess, it's still a normal or _Muggle _game," he said, his excitement not evaporating with the mixed response.

"Magic: The Gathering, that is," he added, watching his daughters and wife patiently waiting, he continued. "This card game you build a deck, and then you fight against one another, trying to get your opponent's health to zero."

Celia wasn't convinced, but she thought she might as well let her dad finish explaining before she refused to play.

"We will get to the gameplay rules for the commander in a bit, as Magic has different formats, the standard format is only for two players, so we need to play commander format. Which means; we are all fighting against each other."

Celia's eyes were on the cards, and some of them had pictures in different colours, some had those symbols, and were only in one colour, and other cards had names, and in the top right, it had those symbols and numbers as well. Celia had a fleeting thought that this wouldn't be too complicated for Lisa to understand.

"Let's start with the colours," Lisa said, pointing out the symbols Celia had been looking at.

"Okay, Lisa," Dudley said, picking up five different coloured cards.

"These are land cards, in Magic, you have five colours, blue, red, green, white, and black. You use these land cards to get mana, which is what you use to cast—"

"I thought you said this wasn't real magic, Daddy," Lisa interrupted. "Celia is the only one that can cast things."

"Just wait," Dudley said. "So if you look at the symbol on a regular card, let's take this one as an example." It was a red card, called a lightning bolt, and it had one red symbol on it that matched the colour _'mana' _card.

He pointed to the symbol, explaining that it meant that they needed one red mana to be able to use the card. Once they understood that they needed mana to cast, and Dudley had given them each a deck, Celia realised her father had forgotten something.

"What's the difference between the instant, sorcery, and creature cards?" Celia asked, looking at her own hand of seven cards.

"Instant cards can be played at any time if you have the mana to cast it, with sorcery cards, it needs to be done in your turn. Both of them go to the graveyard after use, that's the pile that you put over here," he pointed to a space beneath the draw pile.

"And creatures?" Celia prompted, seeing her father so happy was refreshing, as he didn't seem to have the same enthusiasm as grandpa Vernie with regards to drills.

"You get token creatures, normal creatures, and Planeswalkers," he grinned. "This is my favourite card, it's called Liliana Untouched by Death. She is a Planeswalker that is in charge of controlling zombies."

The game was complicated for Lisa, as Celia had suspected, but they managed to get the hang of it after a few rounds. For once, she was happy she joined in on the family game night because it turned out she had quite the talent for Magic, and she just hoped it would be the same once she got to Hogwarts.

"That ends my turn," she said, as she cast her second last attack. It was only her and her father left in the game. She had mana open and was holding a couple of instant cards in her hand as she spoke.

"I don't trust you," Dudley said. "I bet you have some plan to beat me." During Dudley's turn, he didn't manage to get to her health at all, since she was protected with a couple of token knight creatures.

"You will just need to wait and see, dad," Celia replied, holding her cards closer as if he could see through them. Once Dudley's turn was over, she did her upkeep, and drawing her card from the pile, she thought carefully.

She smiled at her father, before announcing her last attack, taking his health down eight points, and making her the overall winner of the game.


End file.
